Spring bracket



W. K. FLOEHR SPRING BRACKET July 24, 1956 Filed April 26, 1950 AffomeySPG BRACKET Warren K. Floehr, Coopersville, Mich. Application April 26,1950, Serial No. 158,129

2 Claims. (Cl. 16-76) The present invention provides a biasing systemfor hinged doors. The principal field of utility of this device is inconnection with furnaces. It has been found that explosions in theinterior of the furnace of sufficient strength to blow a furnace dooropen leave the furnace in a condition such as to generate considerabledanger to the surrounding building and to the occupants thereof. Toavoid flooding the surrounding room with fuel gas, and also to avoid thecreation of improper draft conditions if the heating unit again beginsto operate normally, it has been found advisable to apply a biasingaction to return the door to the closed position after it has once beenblown open. It has been the usual practice to provide a helical springhaving extended ends and an inside diameter sufficient to surround a pinof the size of the door hinge pintle. If a continuous hinge pin is notpresent, a rod is provided of sufficient length to extend between thehinge points of the body of the furnace and replace the short pins withwhich the furnace was originally equipped. The installation of thespring arrangement then involves the insertion of the rod through one ofthe hinge points on the body of the furnace and then through thecorresponding one on the furnace door. Before continuing the insertionof the rod through the next set of remaining hinge elements, the helicalspring is placed in position on the rod and given an initial biassufficient to apply at least some force to the door in the fully closedposition. The extended ends of the spring are of suflicient length sothat one of them bears against the door and the other against the bodyof the furnace.

The type of installation outlined above has been generally restricted tothat type of furnace having exteriorly available hinge points. There area great many furnaces in which the hinges are concealed from the outsideand which are consequently very difiicult to equip with the hinge rod asoutlined above. The present invention is intended to permit this samegeneral type of biasing action while making it unnecessary to replacethe hinge elements of the concealed-hinge type of equipments. A bracketis attached preferably to the exterior of the furnace, and the bracketis provided with an extension adapted to operate as an abutment for oneof the extended ends of the same type of helical spring as noted above.With the axis and one of the extended ends thus controlled, the oppositeextended end of the spring is brought to bear upon the furnace door tocreate the same biasing action as is generated if the helical springwere to be mounted upon the hinge axis of the door. Some degree ofsliding action occurs between the extended end of the spring and thefurnace door; but the application of suflicient torque is stillpossible, and a small amount of such sliding action does not appear tobe objectionable.

The various features of the present invention will be discussed indetail by an analysis of the particular embodiments illustrated in theaccompanying drawing. Referring to the drawing:

Figure 1 is a perspective view showing a furnace door in conjunctionwith a furnace and showing the various 2,755,500 Patented July 24, 1956ice components of the biasing system attached in operating position.

Figure 2 is a section taken on the plane 22 of Figure 1, with the doorshown in dotted lines.

Referring to Figures 1 and 2, the body portion of a furnace is generallyreferred to at 10. The door 11 is hinged to the body portion byconcealed hinge means not shown. The bracket 12 is secured to thefurnace 10 by the screws 13 and 14. The bracket has the horizontallyextending legs 15 and 16 having axially aligned holes providing supportfor the spring-carrying rod 17. The helical spring 18 is formed so thatits inside diameter will fit loosely over the outside diameter of therod 17, and has the extended ends 19 and 20. The end 19 of the springbears against the edge of the furnace door 11. The bracket 12 is alsoprovided with the abutment extension 21 having the function of providinga fixed base for the extended end 20 of the spring 18. In the assemblyof the device, an initial torsion is applied to the spring such that acontinuous force is applied by the end 19 to the door 11 with the doorin the closed position.

It is preferred to provide the assembly discussed above with thespring-retaining plate 22. The details and construction of the plate 22are discussed in the application of Glenn B. Morse, Serial Number122,300, filed on October 19, 1949, now Patent No. 2,670,197, datedFebruary 23, 1954. The features of the plate 22 are claimed in thatapplication. In summary, the function of the plate 22 is to retain thespring 18 in a deflected condition to facilitate the assembly of thespring to the rod if the bracket 12 has already been attached. If theentire assembly as shown in Figure 1 is applied to the body of thefurnace, the plate 22 permits the attachment to be made before theextended end 19 is freed to permit it to apply force to the door 11. Theoperation of the plate 22 involves a vertical movement sufficient forthe hooked end 23 to engage the extended end 19. The hooked end 23 andthe slot 24 are located on tangential portions 22a and 22b,respectively, of the plate 22. The cylindrical portions 22c and 22d areformed integrally with the tangential portions 22a and 22b,respectively, and extend around the spring 18 approximately ninetydegrees from the point of tangency of the portions 22a and 22b in orderto provide an abutment against the spring for resisting the forcesgenerated by the spring ends 19 and 20. With the lower end of the spring20 retained by the slot 24, the angular relationship of the ends 19 and20 about the axis of the spring are then fixed and the assembly of thespring and the plate 22 can be handled as a separate entity. Todisengage the plate 22, the door can be swung open a millcient amount todisengage the hooked end 23, and the plate may then be permitted to dropto the position shown in Figure l in which the spring is left free toapply its biasing force to the door. It is preferable to form theextension 21 of sufiicient length parallel to the axis of the spring topermit considerable variation in the vertical position of the spring 18in order to adapt the device for various types of furnaces in whichclearance for the operation of the device may be somewhat restricted.

The particular embodiment which has been illustrated in the accompanyingdrawing and discussed herein is for illustrative purposes only, and isnot to be considered as a limitation upon the scope of the appendedclaims. In these claims it is the intent of the inventor to claim theentire invention to which he is entitled in view of the prior art.

I claim:

1. Biasing means for a hinged door comprising a rod; bracket meansadapted to support said rod; helical spring means including a platehaving a hook on its upper end and a vertical slot adjacent its lowerend and a torsion spring having extended ends respectively releasablyand slidably engaging said hook and slot and surrounding said rod, saidspring means having freedom to move axially along said rod to aplurality of positions thereon; and support means for one of said endspreventing rotation thereof around said rod in at least one direction,said support means including abutment means secured to said bracket anddisposed to engage said end only over a fractional part of the saidfreedom of axial movement.

2. Biasing means for a'hinged door comprising a rod; U-shaped bracketmeans adapted to support said rod adjacent the ends thereof; helicalspring means including a plate having a hook on its upper end and avertical slot adjacent its lower end and a torsion spring havingextended ends respectively releasably and slidably engaging saidreceived between the legs of said bracket means with freedom to moveaxially along said rod to a plurality of positions thereon; and supportmeans for one of said ends preventing rotation thereof around said rodin at least one direction, said support means including abutment meanssecured to said bracket and disposed to engage said end only over afractional part of the said freedom of axial movement.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,015,209 Richardson Jan. 6, 1912 1,384,260 Kanter July 12,19211,602,729 Walters Oct. 12, 1926 2,493,019 Olvis Jan. 3, 1950 2,670,197Morse Feb. 23, 1954

